Catalonia's Vote Was a Success. Now Negotiate … Catalonia's independence vote on Sunday was encouraging – not in creating momentum for the region that wants to break off from Spain, but in laying a foundation for political agreement on how best to decide the question. Perhaps for the first time, the national government in Madrid made the smart choice, allowing the nonbinding &q...Read More
With Fear of Being Sidelined, Tea Party Sees the Republican Rise as New Threat … As most Republicans were taking a victory lap the morning after the elections, a group of conservatives huddled anxiously in a conference room not far from Capitol Hill and agreed that now is the time for confrontation, not compromise and conciliation. Despite Republicans' ascension to Senate control and an...Read More
The Marlboro of marijuana … The legal cannabis industry is run by minnows. As liberalisation spreads, that may not last … Colorado's pot industry expects to rack up sales of $1 billion this year. Across America the market is reckoned to be worth about 40 times that much. Most of it is still illegal, of course. But slowly, entrepreneurs are prising it out of the hands of crime gangs...Read More
With Fear of Being Sidelined, Tea Party Sees the Republican Rise as New Threat … As most Republicans were taking a victory lap the morning after the elections, a group of conservatives huddled anxiously in a conference room not far from Capitol Hill and agreed that now is the time for confrontation, not compromise and conciliation. Despite Republicans' ascension to Senate control and an...Read More
The Marlboro of marijuana … The legal cannabis industry is run by minnows. As liberalisation spreads, that may not last … Colorado's pot industry expects to rack up sales of $1 billion this year. Across America the market is reckoned to be worth about 40 times that much. Most of it is still illegal, of course. But slowly, entrepreneurs are prising it out of the hands of crime gangs...Read More
Apparently, Europe's economic malaise has got nothing to do with the euro … Believe it if you will; Europe's economic malaise has got nothing to do with the euro … Hard to believe, perhaps, but this was the suggestion put to me at the CityUK annual dinner this week by someone with a lifetime of public service now turned, as many top civil servants eventually do, to more lucrati...Read More
Here's the big news from Tuesday's election: Faced with gridlock in Washington, more and more voters are turning to states and municipalities to do the work that the nation's capital seems increasingly unable to do. – Michael Bloomberg/Bloomberg editorialDominant Social Theme: This election shows us how deeply the American people are involved in their political system. More than...Read More
Apparently, Europe's economic malaise has got nothing to do with the euro … Believe it if you will; Europe's economic malaise has got nothing to do with the euro … Hard to believe, perhaps, but this was the suggestion put to me at the CityUK annual dinner this week by someone with a lifetime of public service now turned, as many top civil servants eventually do, to more lucrati...Read More
Here's the big news from Tuesday's election: Faced with gridlock in Washington, more and more voters are turning to states and municipalities to do the work that the nation's capital seems increasingly unable to do. – Michael Bloomberg/Bloomberg editorialDominant Social Theme: This election shows us how deeply the American people are involved in their political system. More than...Read More
The day after: Obama, GOP in new political dynamic … A weakened President Barack Obama and emboldened Republican leaders in Congress began adjusting to a new political dynamic Wednesday after voters coast to coast used the midterm elections to sharpen the dividing lines in an already divided government … The election results were resounding: The GOP won control of the Senate and streng...Read More
Fed's Fisher Tells Congress Don't Mess With Central Bank … Senate Republicans should resist the temptation to erode Federal Reserve independence after victory in mid-term elections, Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher said. "Think about this: Here's a Congress that can't even get its own budget together. Do you want them running the central bank?" Fisher, a former d...Read More
The day after: Obama, GOP in new political dynamic … A weakened President Barack Obama and emboldened Republican leaders in Congress began adjusting to a new political dynamic Wednesday after voters coast to coast used the midterm elections to sharpen the dividing lines in an already divided government … The election results were resounding: The GOP won control of the Senate and streng...Read More
Fed's Fisher Tells Congress Don't Mess With Central Bank … Senate Republicans should resist the temptation to erode Federal Reserve independence after victory in mid-term elections, Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher said. "Think about this: Here's a Congress that can't even get its own budget together. Do you want them running the central bank?" Fisher, a former d...Read More
GOP Senate Takeover Would Put Fed Under Microscope … A Republican takeover of the U.S. Senate on Election Day would promise increased political turbulence for the Federal Reserve. Financial executives say a GOP-led Senate would ratchet up congressional scrutiny of the central bank's interest- rate policies as well as its regulatory duties as overseer of the nation's largest financial...Read More
Judge Could Smash Marijuana Law… A judge in California is examining the legality of America's marijuana laws; she may be on the verge of throwing the entire system into chaos … Three states, one district, and two cities will vote on various aspects of the nation's drug laws on Tuesday but the most crucial marijuana decision being weighed in the coming days will be made by just...Read More
GOP Senate Takeover Would Put Fed Under Microscope … A Republican takeover of the U.S. Senate on Election Day would promise increased political turbulence for the Federal Reserve. Financial executives say a GOP-led Senate would ratchet up congressional scrutiny of the central bank's interest- rate policies as well as its regulatory duties as overseer of the nation's largest financial...Read More
Judge Could Smash Marijuana Law… A judge in California is examining the legality of America's marijuana laws; she may be on the verge of throwing the entire system into chaos … Three states, one district, and two cities will vote on various aspects of the nation's drug laws on Tuesday but the most crucial marijuana decision being weighed in the coming days will be made by just...Read More
History will surely see QE as a major mistake … QE has boosted equity prices, while hammering ordinary savers and pensioners while handing a massive wealth transfer to bailed-out banks. The world's most important central bank has fired $3,700bn from its monetary bazooka … "The final word on quantitative easing will have to wait for historians," wrote Ambrose Evans-Pritcha...Read More
Capitalism through the ages … A grand tour … Experts look back at the economic system that dominates the Western world … The editors define capitalist systems as having secure contracts, property rights and markets with flexible prices, and surviving long enough to make big investments worthwhile. The story of such systems begins early. Through most of pre-industrial history Malt...Read More
History will surely see QE as a major mistake … QE has boosted equity prices, while hammering ordinary savers and pensioners while handing a massive wealth transfer to bailed-out banks. The world's most important central bank has fired $3,700bn from its monetary bazooka … "The final word on quantitative easing will have to wait for historians," wrote Ambrose Evans-Pritcha...Read More